From the Steuben Republican page 1 column
4 on November 15,1893
Margaret Murphy Ryan, who died Nov.7,1893, at her home in Scott
township,
a few miles northeast of Angola, was born in Belfast, Ireland, July
13,1812
and at her death was aged 81 years,3 months and 24 days. Deceased
came
to America in 1828, and located near Poughkeepsie N.Y. She was
married
to John Ryan, Sept. 3,1837. Thirteen years later, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan
moved
to Steuben County,Indiana, where they passed the remainder of their
lives.
Mr. Ryan died in May,1871. To them were born eleven children, eight
sons
and three daughters of whom five sons and one daughter survive them.
After
the death of her husband, Mrs. Ryan resided at their old home in
Scott,
with her unmarried sons, Michael and Owen. Deceased enjoyed the
distinction
of being the mother of an intensely patriotic family. In August,
1861,
her husband and four sons, Stephen,John jr., Michael and James--all
who
were old enough for military service--enlisted in Co.A,44th Regt.
Ind.
Vol.; and later, as soon as his age and size would enable him to do
so,
her son Todd also enlisted in an Indiana Regt. A father and five
sons--all
in the family who were old enough for military duty, and all except
one,
members of the same company--is a spectaole seldom presented in the
history
of the war. That deceased had a multitude of friends, is apparent
from
the vast concourse of people who attended her funeral, which occured
at
the North Scott Church on Thursday, 9th inst.
Quite a large delegation of Grand Army veterans were present, and
all
the pall bearers were survivors of Co.A of the 44th regiment.
Twenty-two
years ago last May, Elder David C. Hanselman, who lived in Scott
during
the war, arrived in Angola on a business trip from Ohio, on the day
Mrs.
Ryan's husband died, and , at the request of the family, preached
the funeral
sermon; and it may be mentioned as a strange coincidence that on
Tuesday
of last week, the day Mrs. Ryan died, Elder Hanselman again arrived
in
Angola from his Ohio home, on a business trip. During her last
illness,
Mrs. Ryan expressed a wish that Elder Hanselman might be the
officiating
clergyman at
her funeral; and he on learning of the wish cheerfully complied.
Thus
the funeral discourses of both husband and wife, though upwards of
twenty-two
years apart, were preached by their old friend and neighbor, whose
home
for a quarter of a century has been in another state.
Submitted By: Sherri Ryan
roccracc@yahoo.com